Andrew Cuomo Could End Up With A Fierce Critic As His Running Mate

In the heat of the West Indian
Day Parade in Brooklyn on Monday, Columbia law professor Tim Wu
stumbled into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). It was
awkward.

"He gave me this funny look and he kind of looked into the
distance. It was a strange moment," Wu recalled in an interview
with Business Insider the next day. "I felt as if I was an
illegitimate child or something who had suddenly shown up out of
nowhere."

However, this uncomfortable pair might just find themselves
sharing a ticket when Cuomo is up for re-election in
November.

An eccentric technology activist best known for coining the
phrase "net neutrality," Wu has parachuted into New York politics
this year and is threatening Cuomo with embarrassment. Wu is
running for lieutenant governor in New York's Democratic primary
alongside gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout, and their
campaign has focused on criticizing Cuomo and other state
politicians for corruption in Albany.

Thanks to quirks in New York's election law, in spite of his
status as a high-profile Cuomo critic, Wu could end up as the
governor's No. 2.

In New York, the governor and their running mate, the lieutenant
governor, are elected independently in the primary. But they run
on the same ticket in the general election.

Polls show Cuomo, who was first elected in 2010, is likely well
on his way to a second term with strong approval ratings and a
large lead over his GOP opponent. Although Cuomo has high name
recognition, on a primary ballot with two candidates for
lieutenant governor, huge swaths of the governor's supporters
might not have any idea which one is Cuomo's choice — Wu or the
Cuomo-backed Kathy Hochul, a former congresswoman.
This creates an
opening for a Cuomo rival to become a Cuomo deputy, though Wu
predicts Teachout will win.

Along with the split ballot, Wu's chances could be bolstered by
liberal discontent with Cuomo. Despite the governor's apparent popularity,
he has earned the ire of many activists on the left who accuse
him of advocating conservative economic policies and not doing
enough to help Democrats gain control of the state
legislature.

"New York has become a progressive, 2-to-1 Democratic state, but
the entrenchment of Albany's bipartisan system ... has stifled
change," one Democratic political operative in Albany complained.
"Who’s been standing in the way? Our Democratic governor. In what
universe could this not make the rank-and-file Democratic
activists, staffers, and even electeds absolutely crazy?"

Hochul, who represented a heavily Republican district in Western
New York, is seen as even more conservative than Cuomo. During
her time in Congress, she
once voted to hold President Obama's attorney general, Eric
Holder, in contempt and developed a moderate brand based on her
opposition to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.
Hochul holds staunchly liberal positions on other issues like
Medicare.

Because of these factors, some advocate getting their revenge on
Cuomo through Wu's election. The left-leaning site Daily Kos
joined other news outlets — including
The New York Times, New York Observer,
and
The Nation — in supporting Wu for precisely that reason: He
would be a "thorn" in Cuomo's side.

"New York's noxious governor, Andrew Cuomo, may be riding a wave
of money and his father's last name to an easy re-election, but
there's a way you can ruin his life: Help defeat his choice for
lieutenant governor," Daily Kos
declared last Thursday. "He will be a thorn in the
corporatist Cuomo's side." (Neither the Times nor Daily Kos made
an endorsement in the governor's race. The Observer called for a
Cuomo-Wu vote.)

There is some precedence for a New York gubernatorial candidate
running alongside a primary rival in the general election.

In 2010, GOP gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino was also
saddled with his primary foe’s No. 2; however, that Republican
ticket was defeated by Cuomo in the general
election. As Capital New York
noted, Cuomo's own father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, saw his
running mate lose in 1982. After he won the general election with
his rival on the ticket, the new lieutenant governor resigned
from the largely ceremonial position, reportedly citing boredom.

But Wu is vowing to soldier on even if Teachout loses her race
against Cuomo. And if Wu ends up elected with the governor, he's
not planning to quiet his Cuomo criticism. Wu told Business Insider it's "fair" to
assume that, if Cuomo continues to govern as he has the previous
four years, he will find a lieutenant governor speaking out
against him.

"My policy would ... to be an advocate for the public first and
foremost. I wouldn’t go out of my way to be oppositional. My duty
isn’t to make his life miserable," Wu said. "It’s possible in
Washington we have too many checks and balances. In Albany, it’s
sort of the opposite problem."

However, in spite of the tantalizing prospect of watching two
rivals share a ticket, there are plenty of reasons to think
Hochul will ultimately prevail. Powerful New York labor unions
with proven vote-getting operations have recently
announced their plan to go all-in for her. New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio, a populist firebrand,
headlined a rally for Cuomo's running mate on Wednesday
afternoon.

"There is no question that Kathy Hochul is the Lieutenant
Governor that New York City needs," de Blasio said in a
statement. "In one of the most Republican districts in New York,
Kathy held true to our core Democratic values."

Cuomo's campaign did not respond to a request for comment from
Business Insider, but one of the governor's supporters said he
was baffled by the amount of attention Wu was receiving. The
supporter pointed to Hochul's stronger fund-raising and labor
support as signs of her candidacy's strength.

"Without a doubt, she's not going to get as many votes as Cuomo,"
he said. "But I think that it is a little bit overblown … I feel
like in any other situation, you would never be having a
conversation about a candidate that was this unserious — even for
a city council race."

In addition to pleasing liberal activists, a Wu win would also
some color to Albany politics as he's a far cry from the typical
political candidate.

According to a 2006 New York Observer
profile, Wu was a "recurring fixture at Burning Man, the
neo-hippie arts festival set annually in the Nevada desert, where
he sometimes dons a cowboy costume."

A photo on Tim Wu's
campaign website.TimWu.org

Wu says he no longer attends the hippie fest, but his unfiltered
style makes him distinctly unconventional. Up until Tuesday
afternoon, Wu's campaign website featured sections dedicated to
his favorite fruits (he enjoys durians and tomatoes) and a photo
of Wu in a blue bear costume that he said was used as a teaching
prop for copyright law. It also included a page outlining how he
prefers his water.

"I think water without ice tastes better," Wu explained to
Business Insider.

For his part, Cuomo was
reportedly asked about Wu at the West Indian Day Parade where
they ran into each other. Cuomo refused to acknowledge the chance
he might get paired with Hochul's upstart challenger.